When Dimple Met Rishi

March 27, 2017
In this bright and funny debut novel, Menon introduces two intellectually gifted teens from traditional Indian families who meet at a summer tech conference in San Francisco. The twist: Dimple and Rishi’s parents have arranged their marriage. Rishi is aware of the arrangement; Dimple is not. Rishi longs for a traditional marriage like the one his parents have, but Dimple is adamantly opposed to her parents’ efforts to push her toward the same, favoring a career and education over family. After a disastrous initial meeting (Dimple throws iced coffee at Rishi), the two creep toward friendship and love, a slow process recounted through their alternating points of view (often switching multiple times within a single chapter). This frequent back and forth provides a detailed play-by-play of the teenagers’ shifting emotions as Menon vividly conjures the joy, self-doubt, and humor of first love. Romance-loving readers will celebrate the ways that Rishi and Dimple learn to respect and appreciate their Indian heritage and traditions but also manage to go their own way. Ages 12–up. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.

Teenaged Dimple Shah is focused on winning Insomnia Con, an intense summer app-development program. To her dismay, she finds herself partnered with straitlaced Rishi Patel, the boy her parents have arranged for her to marry. Narrators Vikas Adam and Sneha Mathan create a rapid-fire repertoire through alternating chapters as these two unlikely teens work together--and realize that, ultimately, they might want more than the grand prize. In a charming and cinematic performance, Adam and Mathan work with a variety of perfectly matched accents to bring the world around Dimple and Rishi alive. Like the characters, the narrators' chemistry bursts with energy, matching the story's drama, humor, high jinks--and even a Bollywood dance number. This lovable YA romance is a full-on immersive listen. J.E.C. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine